Maison Latapie: A House in Contrast

My study of Maison Latapie by Phillipe Vassal and Anne Lacation is essentially a study of contrasts. These contrasts include solid/void, light/dark, private/public, and open/closed. The residence is made up of two “houses,” the solid house which faces the street, and the transparent house which opens to the back garden. The designers have made a name for themselves with their cost-effective, innovative use of accessible resources as building materials. In the Maison Latapie, the solid house is constructed with opaque materials of wood and fiber cement cladding, while the transparent house is made of polycarbonate sheeting.

The transparent house has a similar design to that of a greenhouse. Its primary purpose is to provide sunlight to the family and ventilation in the warm months. On the solid house, several panels of fiber cement cladding are on hinges so they can be swung open to expose the home to the street. When they are closed, however, the house becomes a closed box. The solid house seems to act as armor for the family inside. The house may be closed off to protect the family from uncomfortable climates, or from the public street. While the solid house allows the family to be as confined as they wish, the transparent house allows them to extend themselves. During the warm months, they may use the greenhouse as a connection to the sky, sun, and garden.

I created a paper-cutting to emphasize the solid/transparent contrast between the two parts of the residence. The cutting consists of two boxes of the same dimensions, yet one box is solid paper while the majority of material on 5 faces of the other box has been removed. In this way, the focus is on the exterior of the solid box, and the focus is on the interior of the void box. In reality, the transparent house strives to bring the outside to the inside while the solid house is trying to keep a strong separation between outside and inside.